|
Note! The photograph is at the bottom of the page
This, I believe, to be the earliest photograph of the school and some of the school children because, on the original cardboard frame, someone has had a guess at the year and written in pencil, "?1895". In that year John James Newport, my grandfather, took over as Head Teacher at the school; he would have been about 28 years of age and my grandmother, 22, which seems to fit.
In the middle of the picture, there’s a large hole where someone’s face would have appeared and, on the back of the frame, there is a pencilled note which says, "Ethel nee NEWPORT PILBEAM missing", which must refer to the hole and my Aunt Ethel who, in later life, married Frank Pilbeam, of Hooe.
Through the lattice windows, behind the girls on the back row, you can see faces of some boys looking out. Why weren't they in the photograph? Perhaps, they had their photograph taken later (or earlier); if so, I haven't, as yet, found a copy. Because of the apparent age of the children, it might have been that that this photograph was of the Infants and the boys, behind the glass, were Juniors or Seniors.
For family members, if Aunt Ethel were the person cut out of the picture then the year can’t be 1895, for the following reasons.
Aunt Ethel was born in 1893 and would have been only two years of age at the time the photograph was taken, which means that she wouldn’t have been at school. Also, the other children, in that row, look to me to be around four years of age, at least, so, if Aunt Ethel is the one missing from the photograph the date is more likely to be 1897, in which case the child, who looks about 2 years of age, sitting on my grandmother’s lap, would be Aunt Grace, born in 1895.
This leaves my Aunt Beattie, born in 1891, who would have been 5 or 6 years old depending upon which time of 1897 the photograph was taken. Well, sitting to the left of the hole is a young girl, who could be 5 or 6 and, definitely, has the Newport face and it’s quite possible that the two sisters were put close together because they were sisters.
In 1897, my grandfather and grandmother would have been 30 and 24 years of age, which still fits nicely.
